Mansukh Mandaviya to flag off vessel with Bhutan cargo to Bangladesh Friday

Minister of State for Shipping (Independent Charge) Mansukh Mandaviya will on Friday flag off an inland waterways vessel containing cargo from Bhutan to Bangladesh via River Brahmaputra and the Indo-Bangla Protocol Route, an official statement said. This is a first-of-its-kind movement where an Indian inland waterway is being used for connecting the two countries -- Bhutan and Bangladesh, the Ministry of Shipping said in a statement issued here on Thursday.

"Taking ahead the prime minister's vision of promoting inland waterways, Minister of State for Shipping (Independent Charge) and Chemical and Fertilisers, Mansukh Mandaviya will flag off an inland waterways vessel containing cargo from Bhutan to Bangladesh via River Brahmaputra (NW 2) and the Indo Bangla Protocol Route tomorrow (Friday)," the Ministry said. A thousand metric tonne of crushed stone aggregates will sail on the Inland Waterways Authority of India's (IWAI) vessel MV AAI from Dhubri port in Assam to Narayanganj in Bangladesh through India's NW2 and Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route, it said.

The stone aggregates were transported by trucks from Phuentsholing in Bhutan which is 160 kilometres (KM) from IWAI's Dhubri jetty in Assam. Bhutan has been exporting significant quantity of stone aggregates through the land route for different construction projects in Bangladesh, it said.

The exports through inland waterways mode will serve as an alternative mode of transportation which is cheaper and more environment-friendly. It also offers larger shipment size as compared to road, avoiding congestion on land routes. While this consignment is being transported in one single barge through inland waterways, by road, it would have taken 50 trucks of 20 tonne capacity to carry the same volume of cargo.

This movement, the ministry said, is expected to inspire confidence among the Bhutanese exporters to increasingly shift to waterways mode and increase the trade of stone aggregates and other cargo between Bhutan and Bangladesh through India's inland waterways. Bhutanese exporters and importers are likely to use this route frequently now.